This invention relates generally to hospital interfacing devices and particularly to an interface device for controlling a television in a hospital room.
Televisions (TVs) manufactured for use in health care facilities, such as within hospital rooms, are specifically designed for use within those environments. In the past, such televisions have been designed to meet certain requirements regarding safety and control. However, such hospital TV control has always been subject to an informal control standard directed to the patient operation of the TVs from a hospital bed rail control or a pillow speaker. The term xe2x80x9cpillow speakerxe2x80x9d is generally used to refer to a device such as a pendant associated with a hospital bed which provides an audio speaker and volume control for a television, along with capabilities for communicating with the nurse, controlling lighting, and other such features. The pillow speaker is generally a detached unit connected by a cord to the bed or to an interface plug in the wall.
While available hospital TVs and their associated controls provide a basic viewing experience, they suffer from several significant drawbacks. Historically, the control of hospital TVs has been severely limited and has generally consisted of a single button control which turns the television ON and OFF and changes the channel. Separate volume control buttons are used for raising or lowering the volume of the television. For example, such TVs are turned ON by pressing the TV button. Then, each subsequent depression of the TV button changes the channel UP to the next available viewing channel. When all the available channels are displayed in sequence, the television then turns OFF. Depressing the TV button again turns the television back ON and prepares it again for moving UP through the channels. The patient or other person controlling the TV can only progress upwardly through the channels. If a desired channel is passed, the patient has to progress all the way through the channel selections, has to turn the TV OFF and then ON again, and finally has to move up slowly through the channels, being careful to again not pass the desired channel. Furthermore, a patient cannot turn the TV OFF at a selected channel and then turn it back ON at that channel. The TV always comes back ON at the same channel and the patient has to again search for the channel they were previously viewing.
Such scenarios are not only frustrating and a waste of the patent""s time, but also may unduly and undesirably aggravate the patient, whose health may not be at its best. While such control may have been at least sufficient when only a few channels were available for viewing, the latest TV technology requires additional control for accessing a large number of additional channels and operating an expanded set of TV features and functions. For example, it is desirable to turn the television ON and OFF and have it remain at the channel which was last selected. Furthermore, it is desirable to move UP or DOWN through the available channels at random. Still further, it is desirable to access a number of other TV features, such as display menus or channel viewing guides. Newly available hospital TVs, often referred to as code-driven TVs, are capable of being functionally controlled as desired and discussed above. However, current hospital TV control technology is usually only able to provide the limited control that has traditionally been available with a hospital TV and often cannot take full advantage of the code-driven TV technology.
Another significant drawback of available hospital TV control technology is that each bed and pillow speaker associated with the bed must be configured to control a specific brand/model of hospital TV. There are currently at least three major manufacturers of hospital TVS. To control a specific TV brand/model from a hospital bed and pillow speaker, the bed and pillow speaker have to be specially manufactured and configured for that TV model.
As such, a hospital or other health care facility has to know which beds are going to go with which TV models, and the manufacturer of the beds has to tailor and configure the bed operation for the specific TV model. Oftentimes, such configuration is required in the field, which further increases the manufacturing costs associated with each bed. After the beds and TVs are installed, a bed cannot be moved to a room having a different TV model than the one for which it is manufactured and configured. Otherwise, the TV cannot be controlled from the bed. As may be appreciated, this presents significant logistical problems for the hospital in setting up a hospital room. Furthermore, it presents delays in implementing a bed into a room, because if the bed and TV do not communicate, then the hospital has to obtain a different bed, or a different TV model or has to have the bed reconfigured for the specific TV model available.
The present hospital TV control scenario is also unsuitable for hospital bed manufacturing. Manufacturers have to keep different beds in inventory, or have to specifically tailor or retrofit each bed to the customer""s TV demands. Such retrofitting is often done by the bed manufacturer in the field. This is not only costly in the way of increased inventory costs and post production modifications, but it also creates another issue for manufacturers"" Customer Service Departments to handle.
Furthermore, not only do the above problems and drawbacks arise when a new hospital room is being set up, but they will again occur if there is a malfunction in the bed, in the TV, or both. Replacement beds or TVs cannot simply be taken from other rooms unless the hospital only has one type of bed and one model of television.
Any solution to the above drawbacks in current TV control technology must not only take into account the newer code-driven hospital TVs, but must also be compatible with older TVs that will probably remain in a particular hospital until they malfunction or the hospital makes a determination to upgrade to newer TVs. Given the interest in rising health care costs, the former situation may occur before the latter.
Radio capabilities are also usually available with some hospital TVs. In the past, the bed rails and pillow speakers have had separate, generally single button, RADIO controls for turning the radio ON and OFF and changing the radio channels. Furthermore, radio control was limited like the TV control. Therefore, any suitable solutions to the drawbacks of the current TV control technology should also be capable of utilizing available radio features of a television, whether an older TV model or a newer, code-driven model.
One solution to the aforementioned problems in the prior art, is addressed by U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/853,532, referenced above, wherein a television control system for universal control of hospital televisions is provided, addressing the problems associated with various TV models from different manufacturers, as well as scenarios wherein a hospital will include both older and newer televisions. Specifically, the television control system utilizes various operational modes for adapting the system to a variety of different situations. For example, the inventive system may be adapted to hospitals containing both old and newer TVs, to hospitals containing only newer TVs and/or to hospitals containing only old TVs. Furthermore, the system may be adapted, through mode selection, to address a number of other possible scenarios within a hospital. While such mode selection is desirable and the inventive system addresses the problems in the prior art, it requires proper switch selection for the desired mode upon installation. Accordingly, the proper switch selection requires an individual to recognize which TVs are in use within a particular room or within a particular hospital or medical facility. Such a determination may slow the installation procedure.
Furthermore, the previously mentioned system, in one embodiment, relies upon patient operation of the various input buttons to switch between sub-modes. It has been determined that such a process for selecting a mode could sometimes lead to the inadvertent selection of control for an older style TV when control of a newer TV is actually desired, or vice versa. Such mode selection would rely upon all users intuitively operating the system in the same manner. In the worse scenario, the various submodes of the system might be changed inadvertently and undesirably.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to address the drawbacks in available hospital TV control scenarios, and to provide an improved TV control system for medical and health care facilities, such as hospitals.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a TV control system which adapts to TV models from a variety of different manufacturers.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to have a bed-dedicated TV control unit and bed which may be moved between areas in the hospital without being dependent upon the model of TV with which it is interfaced.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide expandability of TV control functions in a hospital for easily accessing additional channels and addressing additional features available with current TV technology.
It is still a further objective to provide expanded control capabilities for newer hospital TVs while at the same time maintaining compatibility with older TVs which are currently in place in various hospitals.
It is another objective of the invention to improve upon the existing inventive control system which addresses the above objectives and to specifically reduce or eliminate manual switching or patient control for operation of various older and newer style TVs with the system.
It is another objective to provide suitable radio control within the TV control system.
These and other objectives will become more readily apparent from the Summary of the Invention, Brief Description of the Drawings, and Detailed Description of the Invention, below.
The present invention addresses the above-discussed drawbacks of the prior art and meets the objectives set forth above and other objectives by providing a TV control system which universally controls different models of hospital TVs. In that way, a bed, or pillow speaker, which is outfitted with the invention may be utilized with any one of a number of different hospital TV models from different manufacturers without having to be specially designed or configured for a particular TV model. The television control system allows a bed or pillow speaker to be moved between areas in the hospital without being dependent upon the model of TV with which it is interfaced. The inventive system further provides expanded functional capability for controlling a hospital TV while maintaining compatibility with older TVs and providing for suitable radio control of radio functions available on a particular TV model. By providing universal control of different TV models, the invention reduces the logistical problems between hospital and bed manufacturers when ordering, manufacturing, and installing hospital beds. Furthermore, the invention gives a hospital greater flexibility in moving and replacing hospital beds and hospital TVs. Manufacturers do not have to maintain a large inventory of different beds configured for specific TV models, thus reducing inventory costs and post production costs associated with retrofitting or configuring beds in the field for specific TV control. Furthermore, the invention gives a patient greater flexibility and control of the TV and eliminates the inconveniences and irritations associated with prior hospital TV systems.
To that end, the TV control system of the invention comprises an input device which is operable for interfacing with a person to receive an input, and is further operable for generating an input signal corresponding to the input. The input device may be in the form of buttons or switches on the side rail of a hospital bed or may be incorporated into the control buttons or switches of a pillow speaker associated with the bed. The input device essentially provides an indication to the patient of the type of control available for the hospital TV and possibly a radio system associated therewith. The system further comprises a controller which is configured for interfacing with the hospital TV. The controller is operable for generating the necessary control signals to operate different models of hospital TVs. The controller not only provides control signals for newer code-driven TVs, but is still capable of controlling older TVs which are in place in existing hospital facilities. The controller is operably coupled to the input device to receive one of a plurality of available input signals, such as an input from the patient to turn the television ON or OFF or to change channels.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the controller is operable for generating a control signal cluster reflective of the input signal to control the TV as desired by the patient. the control signals are a series or string of spaced pulses comprising a header for the specific model of hospital television followed by an eight bit control code. The control signal cluster includes a plurality of sequentially generated, individual control signals, which are sent one after the other. Each of the control signals corresponds to a specific operational function for a plurality of different models of hospital TVs. Therefore, the sequentially generated control signals of each cluster reflect the desired operational function of the patient. In particular, the control signal clusters in an exemplary embodiment are a series or string of pulses comprising a separate header for each specific model of hospital TV followed by an eight bit control code for the specific model of hospital TV that reflects the desired operational function of the patient.
For example, when the patient pushes the TV ON button, the controller of the inventive system generates a control signal cluster which has a plurality of sequentially generated ON commands, one ON command for each TV of a plurality of different models of hospital TVs which may be coupled to the system. That is, if the system is configured for controlling television Model A, Model B, and Model C, each from different manufacturers, then the inventive system provides a control signal cluster including ON signals for Model A, Model B, and Model C for turning the TV on. The sequentially generated ON signals proceed one after the other. If the bed containing the inventive system is coupled with a Model B TV, then the TV will simply ignore the ON control signals for Model A and Model C, and will respond to the Model B signal by turning itself on. Since the control signal cluster includes sequentially generated control signals for a plurality of different models of hospital TVs, then the bed and inventive control system may be moved to a room with a different TV model, such as a Model A TV, and the control system will be able to properly operate that model as well without any reconfiguration of the control system.
Preferably, a particular input signal will produce a control signal cluster which corresponds to the same operational function for each TV model with which the system might be interfaced. For example, an ON input from the patient will generate a cluster of only ON signals for the TVs. However, in accordance with another principle of the present invention, the cluster might include individual control signals for different operational functions. For example, for one TV model, the cluster may include control signals to provide radio features from the TV, while for another TV model, and within the same cluster, the control signal might operate the TV to provide a channel guide showing the available viewing channels. It will be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, that other features might be included in a cluster depending upon the operational functions of the available TV models.
In one embodiment of the invention, inputs are provided for turning the television ON/OFF, for moving the viewing channel UP, and for moving the viewing channel DOWN, while another button corresponds to a SELECT or RADIO feature of the TV model. The ON/OFF, UP, and DOWN, are the basic functions which most patients will utilize when operating a hospital television. However, it will be appreciated that other operational functions may be utilized and thus the input device may provide the appropriate switches or buttons to access those additional functions. For example, additional inputs are provided in another embodiment of the invention for returning to a previously viewed channel, for muting or substantially reducing sound level, for causing closed captioning text to be displayed, and for entering viewing channel digits (i.e. inputs for entering digits 0 through 9).
The present invention is capable of operating newer, code-driven TVs, and is also capable of operating older TVs under the older command protocol. To that end, one embodiment of the present invention operates in a variety of different modes depending upon whether old TVs, newer code-driven TVs, or a combination of both are to be encountered by a bed which is outfitted with the inventive control system. To that end, the invention comprises a mode switch which is coupled to the main processor of the system for determining the selected mode. The mode switch may be utilized to set the system into a particular mode depending upon the installation parameters and the TVs available.
In another embodiment of the invention, a mode switch and different selectable modes are eliminated. In the alternative embodiment, the invention takes advantage of the backward compatibility of newer TVs which are compatible to the older command protocol, so that the newer TVs may be installed in hospitals where only the older command protocol is available. To that end, the control signal cluster, which is generated in accordance with the principles of the present invention, may include the command signals for the older protocol, as well as the new control signals for the newer TVs. Specifically, the cluster initially includes control signals for the newer TVs, and if the TV does not respond, a data stream for operating an older TV is added to the cluster. In that way, the older TVs are essentially handled as if they were a TV from another manufacturer. Furthermore, no mode switching or mode selection is necessary by either the installer or a patient utilizing the inventive system. In such an alternative embodiment, the backward compatibility of newer TVs is also taken into account, so that a selected function, such a CHANNEL UP function, is always generated under the older command protocol. All TVs, older and newer, will recognize certain function control signals, such as a CHANNEL UP control signal, based upon the older command protocol. Preferably, in accordance with such an alternative embodiment, the cluster of control signals is repeated at regular intervals if a particular input is repeatedly engaged and the individual control signals are appropriately separated by time delay intervals to allow correlated functions to occur at a similar rate. For example, the CHANNEL UP control signals and CHANNEL DOWN control signals are repeated at the same intervals so that the channels may be scrolled up and down at generally the same rate.
In one embodiment of the invention, the controller utilizes a plurality of relays to generate the control signal cluster. The relays are coupled to the system processor, and they are opened and closed as directed by the processor to form a series or string of spaced pulses which create the specific control signals for a particular TV model. Through selective operation of the relays, the control signals, and control signal clusters are created as necessary for operating a hospital TV. The relays are also bi-directional and not sensitive to polarity errors that may occur upon installation of the system. The features and advantages of the invention will become further apparent from the Brief Description of Drawings and the Detailed Description of the Invention below.